Quoting Stealthz (Thread starter):Mercedes hope a longer wheelbase will help Schumi with his times, some consider his problem is slower corners so how a longer wheelbase helps there???

Personally I think the problem is not mainly the car, but the one who is driving it. Schumi is however very careful when predicting that the upgrades would make that big of a difference. Rosberg seem to not be in need of any, but if they work in his advantage we will see him even more on the podium.

Quoting Stealthz (Thread starter):Massa and Alonso have been putting on friendly faces but I doubt that Alonso should expect a Christmas card from Felipe.

haha......this was more or less expected, right? I don't think anyone here will argue against it.
However, Massa is again up against a WDC holder as team mate, and if he's not able to beat him on the track, lets wine like a bit#h. And yeah, Alonso is good at that as well, but he is in my mind the stronger of the two.
Sorry Massa fans but I would not mind if Kubica took over his seat next year.

It's a bit like the first race of the season again as most teams are upgrading their cars.

Quoting Autosport:Test driver Giancarlo Fisichella tried out the latest iteration of Ferrari's blown rear wing during an aerodynamic test at Vairano last week, and the team is happy enough to keep pushing on with its development.

Quoting 2010 F1 Sporting Regulations:22) TRACK AND WIND TUNNEL TESTING
....
iii) Six one day aerodynamic tests carried out on FIA approved straight line or constant radius sites between 1 January 2010 and the end of the last Event of the Championship. Any of these days may be substituted for four hours of wind-on full scale wind tunnel testing to be carried out in a single twenty four hour period.

Quote:Ferrari has been given the green light by the FIA to make modifications to its engine on reliability grounds following the problems it has had in the early stages of the season.

I guess there is always ways to work around the fines they would have got if they had run out of engines. And what's the bloddy reason of having a serten amount of engines if you can still modify the ones you have to make them more reliabel!? An engine blowing up is not really a question about safety.
I can't say I like it that they have been allowed to do this.

Quote:Since 2009, testing during the race season itself has been banned (from the week preceding the first Grand Prix to December 31), with the exception of a small number of straight-line aero tests. There are also restrictions on wind tunnel testing - the scale models used may be no larger than 60 percent and speeds are limited to 50 metres per second.

I think the F1.com writer may have been referring to those straight line aero tests, the original "cost cutting" proposal IIRC was to reduce the 2009 level of 8 days to 4 but it ended up at 6 as specified in the sporting regs.

Christian Klien has been appointed test driver for Hispania Racing Team... A bit of a shame considering that he endangered his position in Peugeot to find a seat in F1 this season, and he ends up being only a test driver for the least competitive F1 team.

I'd rather be part of Peugeot, having the chance to win Le Mans, Sebring or Petit Le Mans in one of the fastest sports car in the world, than being a test driver for HRT.... But as Blaise Pascal said: The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know...

Quoting sudden (Reply 10):I can't say I like it that they have been allowed to do this.

The controversy regarding Ferrari and their "subliminal" Marlboro advertising provoked all kinds of sanctimonious responses from the Scuderia, Luca di Montezemolo for one labeled the accusations "nonsense" and said the barcode design was merely an integral part of the Ferrai livery, the cars and transporters arrived at Barcelona without the "barcode" design.... curious,
They must have been planning a livery change... coincidence, perhaps?

I don't think so!!

Mercedes, long wheelbase, chassis change, familiar European environment? Approx halfway into P2 something seems to be working for MS, maybe it is that funky new air intake/engine cover, MBGP were right, not seen anything like that in F1 for quite a while.